any saturday mail you might miss can easily be delivered by twitter. thanks for joining us on this thursday, february 7th. an unexpected move by the white house on those not so secret drone memos. this as the president's pick for the cia director heads to capitol hill to defend his record as mastermind of the drone program. plus, republicans pick their guy to respond to the president's state of the union address. we'll explain what it means for the party moving forward. a little later, a big snowstorm expected to dump up to two feet of snow in parts of new england. we'll show you who will be the hardest hit straight ahead. first, let's get to the news live here at 5:30 a.m. eastern time at 30 rock in new york city. we begin with new developments involving the nation's highly secretive drone campaign. members of congress demanding more details into how the administration justifies the targeted killing of american citizens. the white house says president obama has directed the

department of justice to brief members of the intelligence committees. the move comes after five groups of 11 senators led by ron widen of oregon demanded insight into the government's legal rational for drone strikes against americans abroad. senator widen took his frustrations to twitter writing, every american has the right to know when their government believes it is allowed to kill them. very strong words. this, of course, follows a leaked white house memo obtained by nbc news this week detailing the criteria required for such a strike. the white house yesterday found itself under quite a bit of pressure ahead to have day's sthat confirmation hearings for john brennan, of course, nominated to be the next head of the cia. >> why you are dancing around the question of whether or not we kill civilians? why can't the government -- >> i don't think that i'm dancing around it. i didn't dispute it. >> not necessarily -- >> what i can't do or what i'm

not -- i don't disagree with that. >> do you think this is going to impair john brennan's nomination? >> the president believes that john brennan is uniquely qualified as a 25-year veteran of intelligence work. >> last night the president reportedly spoke with senator widen agreeing to allow access to the classified legal advice. we'll ask the senator directly about his concerns coming up on "morning joe." also confirmation vote on chuck hagel's nomination to be the next secretary of defense has been abruptly postponed. the senate arms services committee says it needs more information about hagel's paid speeches and business dealings. a number of republicans have raised concerns about whether the former senator has accepted payments for consulting work from "foreign sources." hagel insists he's already disclosed all the required information and despite the delay his supporters say they're still confident that he will be confirmed. the man hagel has been tapped to replace is offering a new warning about the threats

facing this country in what could be one of the final speeches as defense secretary. leon panetta telling an audience at georgetown university that the u.s. is at risk of a cyber pearl harbor. >> we are literally the target of thousands of cyber attacks every day. every day. thousands of cyber attacks that are striking at the private sector, striking silicon valley and other institutions within our society, striking government. strike at the defense department and our intelligence agencies. and cyber is now at a point where the technology is there to cripple a country. to take down our power grid system. to take down our government system. take down our financial system. and literally paralyze the country. >> scary stuff.

panetta's message was timely, actually. just this week the federal reserve admits that one of its internal web sites was briefly hacked allowing access to bank information. secretary panetta saved the strongest criticism for lawmakers in congress who have done little to avoid the across the board spepdinding cuts that will slash the pentagon budget. >> this is not a game. this is reality. these steps would seriously damage a fragile american economy and they would degrade our ability to respond to crisis precisely at a time of rising instability across the globe. this is no way to govern the united states of america. this budgetary crisis creates uncertainty. it creates doubt and most

importantly from my point of view, it undermines the men and women in uniform who are willing to put their lives on the line in order to protect this country. >> those planned budget cuts are part of the sequestration deal agreed to by congress as part of annest to force compromise on the national debt. house speaker john boehner says although he opposes the automatic cuts, republicans are not willing to back a plan that involves new tax revenue as the president has called for. >> i don't like the sequester. i think it's taking a meat ax to our government. a meat ax to many programs and it will weaken our national defense. now that's why i fought to not have this sequester in the first place. >> other news to get to this morning, republicans selecting senator marco rubio to deliver the party's rebuttal to president obama following his state of the union address on tuesday. rubio, of course, a rising star for the gop and potential white house contender in 2016 plans to

respond to the president in english and spanish. rubio is also among a group of influential senators calling for comprehensive immigration reform including stronger border security and a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented workers already in the country. the gun advocacy group mayors against illegal guns is pulling out all the stops this week to get the message across. first, it was a reported $100,000 ad buy for a super bowl spot that aired in washington, d.c. and yesterday the group which is backed by new york mayor michael bloomberg leaned on celebrity toys join in. >> doctors can ask if their patients practice unsafe sex or use illicit drugs or have suicidal thoughts or feel threatened in the home but it's illegal for them to discuss guns. >> if we as a people don't act after sandy hook, then we as a people are broken. as a supporter of the second amendment and friend of many nra members myself, i see the

writing on the wall as plainly as you do. the time is now. >> assault weapons, invented for war. >> i'm just here to support the president of the united states. the president of the united states is our boss. he's also, you know, the president and the first lady are kind of like the mom and the dad of the country. when your dad says something, you listen. then when you don't, it usually bites you in the ass later on. mayors against illegal guns put out a public service announcement featuring jamie foxx. many of the movies they've been in feature graphic violence. chris christie not too happy with unsolicited medical advice from a former white house doctor. the new jersey republican pushing back at connie mariano

who said in an interview on tuesday that she worried christie's weight issues could kill him in office. >> i find it fascinating that a doctor in arizona who's never met me, never examined me, never reviewed my medical history or records, knows nothing about my family history could make a diagnosis from 2400 miles away she must be a genius. this is another hack who wants five minutes on tv. and it's completely irresponsible. completely irresponsible. my children saw that last night. and she sat there on tv and said i'm afraid he's going to die in office. my 12-year-old son said, dad, are you going to die? if she wants to get on a plane and come here to new jersey and ask me if she wants to examine me and review my medical history, i'll have a conversation with her about that. until that time, she should shut up. >> there you go. moving on to business news, a possible merger between us

airways and the parent company of american airlines could create the largest airline. american woend up owning nearly 75% of the new carrier. for more on this and early look at the markets, my colleague in london, jeff cutmoor has more. >> good morning to you. this is fascinating. as you say, it would create a giant by traffic. 100,000 employees here, it's a $38.7 billion revenue company. if it comes off, we'll have to wait and watch. the word is we'll get an announcement on this american-us airways deal potentially next week. but already people are starting to put the numbers together and say well this would be huge if it comes true. google, very interesting. $40 billion a year revenue. a lot of that comes from the ad world system. they said we're going to start charging in the middle of 2013 people that use tablets and

mobiles to get their messages across. that would be quite an interesting development in terms of bolstering their revenues going forward. just a couple stories to kick around in the business space. and we're a little mixed on the european story. generally there is a positive trading wuind. >> let's see if they can get revenue off the mobile. that's a big deal. of course, one of the big things with facebook. before you go, outgoing treasury secretary tim geithner said i'm not going to write a book. he is going to write a book. there is a lot of fun on twitter about possible titles. i want your pick for the title of treasury secretary geithner's book. okay, "angels and lehmans." "a tale of two cities." "a farewell to arms." my two favorites, "50 shades of pay." and then, of course, you need the cliff notes for "the hold

man and the sec." it's a short book but a little dense. jeff, which one do you like? >> it's funny. we threw this out to our audience this morning. the one that seems to keep coming back is "the world according to tom." that one went down very well. and i also like the "tale of two cities." i think that is very amusing. but is it going to be a kiss and tell? would it be the kiss and tell we all want it to be about what was going on inside the administration? >> probably not. >> what do you think? >> i highly doubt he'll get to inside baseball. "i like the world according to tom." i like that one. as always, why -- why are you awake? we're glad you are. e-mail us at waytooearly@msnbc.com or tweet us. the best responses, pg, of course. still ahead on "way too early," jeb bush tries to join his big brother as the latest member of the bush family to own a

baseball team. we'll tell you which one next in sports. later, actress ashley judd is the target of her republican ad campaign in kentucky. she's not even a candidate. at least not yet. that story and a check on weather. we have lots of weather to talk about when "way too early" comes right back. >> why this excitement? >> we don't know, really. ♪ alright, let's go.

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to be big. >> yeah, this is it. i mean this is the big one of the winter season. i think someone in eastern new england will get 30 inches of snow. that's 2 1/2 feet. eastern mass or northern rhode island. >> so you're saying i can't go 12 plus 12 and then add 6? basically, he says i can't do math. >> you said it. i didn't tell you anything. here's the setup. two storms are already on the map. we're going to have an unfun travel day throughout the great lakes today. a rainy pattern down in the southeast. those two storms combine off the east coast and about 24 hours from now for our friday night blizzard. that's when the worst of the weather conditions will be. and then right through saturday morning all of eastern mass out in cape cod is going to be really nasty. so blizzard watches now cover all of rhode island, eastern mass, most of connecticut, winter storm watches cover the rest of the area from about trenton, new jersey, northward. the worst of it is going to be in the blizzard conditions, obviously. and that's the eastern mass area. 12 to 24 inches. as i mentioned, someone that gets a period of two or three hours of thunder snow, literally

a thunderstorm producing snow will come close to 30 inches. 55 to 75 mile per hour gusts. trees will come down. we'll get power outages. then the high tide cycle saturday morning, we could deal with a major storm surge and coastal flooding threat in eastern mass and out towards cape cod bay as we go through saturday morning. here's the official snowfall forecast. again, that little blue shaded area is where i think the best shot of that 30 inches of snow would be. that should be a two foot ban easily. boston 18 to 24. i mean that is top five all time for boston. new york city, mostly snow, heavy rain on friday, and then a period of snow, heavy snow on the backside. that's why you're only getting four to eight. buffalo, easily a foot. again, the mountains, of course, catskills, berkshires, they're going to get two feet of snow. >> looks like mass smas going to get hammered. appreciate it. college football power houses getting the next batch of

blue chip recruits. national signing day. keeps on winning. according to espn, they signed the top class followed by florida, ohio state, noter dale. no big surprises. but ole miss, number five getting the nation's top recruit. robert kendichi. of course, it wouldn't be signing day without drama. the strangest story basically comes from alex collins who committed to arkansas but can't make it official because his mom vanished with his letter of intent. usa today reports that his mother wants him to play closer to home and go to miami. we'll see what happens there. to baseball now, jeb bush is trying to get in on the family business and we're not talking presidential politics. sources tell the "miami herald" that he made a large offer to buy the miami marlins but owner jeffrey lora made it clear he has no plans to sell. bush who served as governor of florida from 1999 to 2007 had reportedly put together a group

of wealthy investors to purchase the team before loria shut the possibility down. jeb bush would not have been the first member of his family to own a baseball team. of course, george w. bush was manager and part owner from 1989 to 1998 before his presidential run. to the nba, magic johnson court side watching the wizards take on the knicks. first quarter. john wall makes jason kidd look bad. that's what happens when you're 39 and getting dribbled on by a 22-year-old. amare stoudemire with the rejection. three blocks on the game. fourth quarter, wizards up by five. walsh gives it up to the teammate for the dunk. they snap the knicks winning streak. 106-96. the wizards win total now to a baker's dozen. coming up, there is bipartisan agreement in the senate but not on the issue of the white house was hoping for.

members from both parties want answers from president obama when it comes to the u.s. government's targeted killing of american citizens overseas who have suspected ties to terror. important stuff. they have a senator in the middle of that. when we come back here, we'll go a little on the lighter side. lewis standing by with the water cooler and, of course, the olympics aren't too far away. we have olympics of another sort. i'll have details on the euro olympics when "way too early" comes right back. [ male announcer ] no matter what city you're playing tomorrow. [ coughs ] ♪ you can't let a cold keep you up tonight. [ snores ] vicks nyquil. powerful nighttime 6-symptom cold & flu relief. ♪ [ sniffles, coughs ] excuse me. i need something for my cold symptoms. [ sniffles ]

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lee on panetta used his farewell address yesterday to criticize congress for failing to come up with a deal to come up with the sequesteration cuts that are scheduled to go into effect march 1. tell your friends that military salaries will likely be limited to a 1% increase in 2014 because of sequestration that increase will play out the same as a pay cut, though, as it will not keep up with the expected cost of living increase in the coming year. so that is not good for our troops. let's go to lighter stuff. >> i like that massachusetts accent. >> hammering it. good for other things, of course, in high school and college. >> yesterday we began our one-year countdown to the winter olympics in russia which we broadcast right here on nbc. but those aren't the only

olympics going on. in northern india, all this week you can enjoy the rural olympics. they're entertaining. the competition of some type, horses dancing on two feet. it looks a bit like some sort of trippy dressage. that is unbelievable stuff. there is the typical feats of endurance and strength with the tug of war. the 100 meter dash. they are flying there. and pulling a minivan with your ears -- ow! >> that doesn't sound like -- >> that is pretty hard. >> they're sponsored by suzuki. >> yes, balancing a bicycle on your teeth. >> okay. >> that looks like it hurts. and balancing your body on a bottle and then a stack of bricks. of course, we have the vertical baby drop. any excuse that we can get to show this 500-year-old tradition. it is thought that it will bring

the child good luck. i know this is will's favorite cooler story. >> i hope they have 1,000 on that. >> this is footage from 2008. i hope they have new safety precautions. >> that is scary. it looks like the babies are fine. >> i hope so. >> they have an ambulance waiting in the distance. let's move on to some politics here. ashley judd's name has been floated as democrat to run against senator mitch mcconnell in kentucky n year. she hasn't made any decisions yet. karl rove's super pack is already launching a preemptive attack against the actress. take a look. >> you know what this country really needs? an independent voice for obama. >> i am committed to president obama and vice president biden. i think he's a brilliant man. he is now able to flower more as the president i knew he could be. >> a leader who knows how to follow. >> i will go wherever the president wants me to go.

>> someone who will never forget where she came from. >> and it just clicked, tennessee is home. and it just clicked -- >> kentucky. >> is home. >> someone from out of state who understands us. >> i don't know about a hillbilly's who golf. hillbilly's. >> her own grandmother says she's a hollywood liberal. but isn't that what we need? ashley judd, an obama following radical hollywood liberal who's right at home here in tennessee -- i mean kentucky. >> now i think that was karl rove's voice there when it said kentucky. he's -- he knows how to cut a political ad. i guess she's going to have to throw the towel in after that. this is part of a $10,000 media buy by american cross roads. they're worried that mitch mcconnell could be in jeopardy. judd publicist said ashley thanks senator mcconnell and karl rove for their negative

attention on this ad. she considers her future plans. she's not really sure. >> she's a huge supporter historically of the university of kentucky athletics, by the way. so tennessee, i'm not so sure. still ahead on "way too early," why you're awake. your bluegrass tweets, texts and e-mails are next and "morning joe" is moments away. so you say men are superior drivers? yeah. then how'd i get this... [ voice of dennis ] ...safe driving bonus check? every six months without an accident, allstate sends a check. ok.

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